Economic evalution of loading systems for citrus destined for industrial processing.

Citrus production for frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) has many options for loading oranges in harvested fields. There are several questions about the available systems, regarding their adaptability to the farm, economic costs and trees health. Through a field survey and simulations of each found system, for different production levels (farm size), it could be evidenced that the systems with a considerable mechanization level are the most economic ones, with notable scale gains. Systems that dissociate the harvesting and loading showing economic and strategic advantages, considering the increasing possibility of the period for orange trucks leaving the farms, reducing trucks arrival peaks in juice plants and easing the waiting problems in factory lines. The best option for orange loading varies depending on farm production level, equipment investments, management and prevention of health risks.